Bangladesh’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen sharply, setting a daily record more than two weeks after it lifted a nationwide shutdown, health officials said yesterday.
Some 4,008 people, out of 17,527 samples, tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours ending Wednesday morning, raising the total number of Covid-19 patients to 98,489, said health services department spokesperson Nasima Sultana.
“This is the highest number of infections reported in a day so far,” she told an online news briefing, urging people to maintain maximum precaution to stay safe.
The death toll from the virus has risen to 1,305, with 43 deaths reported during that period, she added.
Bangladesh allowed public and private offices to reopen on May 31 as authorities lifted the nationwide shutdown they had imposed in March to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But the number of coronavirus cases has skyrocketed to 98,489 only 17 days after the lockdown was lifted, when the number of infections was 47,153.
The South Asian country has reported an average of more than 3,000 daily infections since 
June 10.
The government is now contemplating localised lockdowns in dozens of areas marked as coronavirus hotspots, which would be guarded by army troops to ensure that health guidelines are maintained.
A high-level national health advisory panel on Monday designated 65 areas across the country, including 45 in the capital, Dhaka, as “red zones” to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries worldwide, reported its first three cases of the coronavirus on March 8.